1

In my research on parental distress at AIDPC, I have come to view parents with a T1 child as patients, too. They have diabetes by proxy. These parents are

fear-driven to observe, monitor, and know all there is to know and do in order to manage their child’s condition. They aren’t their child, but they try to be. Parents suffer this particular kind of diabetes because they feel like they are living outside an observation window and frantically trying to save their child’s life through it. Their lives as parents are grossly intensified by the 24/7, angst-filled energy from the imminent threat of their child’s death. There is a focus on their child’s life like no other. The T1child gives meaning to parenting beyond all imagination.

The parents’ desperate efforts to know what is going on inside the child's body drives them to such lengths that their entire sensory systems of sight, sound, touch, smell are hyper-sensitized to problems nearly before they exist. Their only real satisfaction would be to occupy the child's body. They try to literally live in the child's body, to possess it in an effort to detect the first signs of impending problems to prevent them from cascading toward

death. But, in reality, they are blind to their child’s actual internal glucose dysregulation, and they are torn between wanting and not wanting to stick their child over and over to squeeze out that blood drop for the glucometer. Their blindness to the child’s internal metabolic chemistry triggers an alternate strategy of intense day and night watchfulness to detect the earliest possible sign of problems. Through a complex neuro-cognitive process, parents know how their child looks when normal, and when not, they are able to enact a series of decision-trees leading to action, albeit, often mainly trial and error, until the hoped-for resolution occurs.

Volume 3, Issue 8 August 2015

Visit us on the Web!

We appreciate your

stories! Please send

your ideas to Jennifer

Reeder at: jennifer-

reeder@ouhsc.edu.

Please make sure all

photos are the highest

resolution possible.

Thank you!

aidpc.ouhsc.edu

@AIDPC_OUHSC

American Indian Diabetes Prevention Center

Director’s Corner 1

A Poem by H.F. Stein 2

What Have You Been Doing? 2

AIDPC News 3

Just for Fun 4

Traditional Recipes 4

Conferences & Events 5

AIDPC Meeting Schedule 5

Continued on page 2

2

HF Stein

Millet would have understood

Why we invoke "The Gleaners"*

When we talk about our

Less-than-desirable patients.

They can't afford to go to the doctor.

They can't afford to pay for their medicines.

They can barely make ends meet

With their odd jobs. We dislike

The way they live. They drink;

They smoke. They don't marry

The way we'd like. They're down

On their luck, if they ever had any.

They live on the margins

Of fields we cut right up to the fence.

We don't leave much for them to gather from.

We bristle at their unkempt clothes, their odor,

Their neediness. When they come to the doctor's,

We are indignant at their desperation.

They usually don't listen to our advice.

We come to resent what we give them --

Until someone among the doctors at the table

Mentions "The Gleaners"

We all saw in art class long ago.

And we melt a little. Marginal folk

Become for a moment less of a burden.

We find a corner of the field to give them now.

* Jean Francois Millet, "The Gleaners," 1857; Leviticus 19: 9-10

In the Shadow of Asclepius: Poems from American Medicine.

Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Publishing, 2011. P. 7

My wife, Gail, and I took the canoe

to the Lake of the Arbuckle's which

is part of the Chickasaw National

Recreation Area. It is also just down

the road from the Chickasaw Nation

Cultural Center. The lake level was

still very high from the earlier heavy rains of 2-3

weeks ago. Some roads were still blocked off.

We saw floating blobs of gelatinous matter. Gail

found that they were

Bryozoans that live in colonies

and with ideal water conditions

proliferate hugely. The water

conditions must have been

ideal because they were

everywhere. Never saw them

before until this time.

Neil HendersonNeil HendersonNeil Henderson

Parents wish to protect their child from diabetic demise so much that they seem to hyper-identify with the child-diabetes dyad. So, we have a dis-ease (T1 diabetes), a patient with the disease (the child), and parents with a disease (T1 diabetes by proxy). This reminds us that the target for diabe-tes intervention goes beyond the individual patient to include not only the parents, but other caregiv-ers from other generations and households as well. The broader contexts of chronic diseases should be our target, not just a single disease and those who are labeled as patients.

Director’s Corner, cont...

3

On July 8th, the MOVE Study staff had the opportunity to attend Choctaw Nation’s

Outreach at the Beach at Beaver’s Bend near Broken Bow, Oklahoma.

Outreach at the Beach is annual event sponsored by the Choctaw Nation’s Tribal

Events Department. The event is a fun way to promote Choctaw Nation’s helpful

service programs. Over 700 Choctaw Nation families and friends travel from all

over Choctaw Nation to learn about tribal services and enjoy the beauty of

Beaver’s Bend.

The MOVE Study staff participated in the event by handing at-

tendees beach bags and providing information about the study.

Pictured: Lisa Wolbert, Choctaw Nation Wellness Center in Hugo;

Charlotte Coleman, Choctaw Nation Hospital in Talihina; Jennifer

Chadwick, OU Children’s Diabetes Center; and Mary Ayn Tullier,

Choctaw Nation Hospital in Talihina.

MOVE Study at “Outreach at the Beach”

Dr. Misti Leyva and Lindsey Hancock: preeclampsia study.

Lindsey Hancock processing a placenta.

Lindsey Hancock extracting a placenta

from a storage container.

Lindsey Hancock (Oklahoma Choctaw), at the AIDPC, is working on a summer practicum funded by NIDDK.

4

Can you name these Native American Athletes?

A. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Cheyenne)

B. Jim Thorpe (Sac & Fox)

C. Naomi Lang (Kuruk)

D. Angel Goodrich (Cherokee)

E. Billy Mills (Lakota)

F. Louis Sockalexus (Penobscot)

G. Sam Bradford (Cherokee)

H. Corey Witherhill (Navajo)

Answers on page 5

1. _____

2. _____

3. _____

4. _____

5. _____

6. _____

7. _____

8. _____

Jicama Salad 1 cold jicama, peeled and cut in thin strips 1 cup pineapple chunks 2 oranges, peeled, seeded and cut up ½ cup cilantro leaves, minced Dressing ¼ cup fresh lime juice ¼ extra virgin olive oil 3 tablespoons water 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard Salt and pepper to taste Recipe by Dale Carson, Abenaki: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/

Directions: Combine all dressing ingredients in a lidded jar and shake to blend. Put all salad ingredients in a big bowl. Pour dressing over everything and toss to blend. Chill before serving.

Image from Healthyhappyandwhole.wordpress.com

5

84th American Indian Exposition84th American Indian Exposition

August 5-8, 2015

Caddo County Fairgrounds - Anadarko, OK

For more information:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Indian-

Exposition-2015/1517575765172328

American Indian Accessing Health Professions American Indian Accessing Health Professions

WorkshopWorkshop

August 6-8, 2015

University of California Davis School of Medicine

Sacramento, CA

For more information, email Michelle Villegas Frazier: maville-

gas@ucdavis.edu or Gary Lankford: glankford@aaip.org

August 4, 2015 Noon-2:00 pm

OU College of Public Health CHB 144

September 1, 2015

Noon-2:00 pm OU College of Public Health

CHB 144

October 6, 2015 Noon-2:00 pm

OU College of Public Health CHB 144

November 3, 2015

Noon-2:00 pm OU College of Public Health

CHB 144

December 1, 2015 Noon-2:00 pm

OU College of Public Health CHB 144

Answers to Just for Fun

1. F - Louis Sockalexus (Penobscot): 1st Native Major League Baseball Player, Cleveland Spiders

(1887)

2. B - Jim Thorpe (Sac & Fox): 1912 Olympic Gold Medalist in the Pentathlon and Decathlon

3. E - Billy Mills (Lakota): 1964 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 10,000 meters

4. A - Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Cheyenne): 1964 Olympic Judo Team

5. G - Sam Bradford (Cherokee): 2008 Heisman Trophy Winner, Oklahoma University

6. D - Angel Goodrich (Cherokee): 2008 freshman point guard Kansas University

7. H - Corey Witherhill (Navajo): 2001-2003 driver in the Indianapolis 500 Car Race

8. C - Naomi Lang (Kuruk): 1st Native American Women to participate in the Winter Olympics

(2002)